Traders may now use their bank-issued debit or credit cards to buy major cryptocurrencies from KuCoin’s exchange. Notably, this is KuCoin’s first attempt to create a fiat on-ramp - presumably in an effort to make it easier for more investors to acquire cryptoassets.

As mentioned in KuCoin’s announcement, the exchange’s users may buy bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and XRP using their credit cards. The new payment option has been introduced through a partnership with Simplex, a leading payment processing service. Malta-based crypto exchange, Binance also announced a similar payment option for its trading platform.

All purchases made with credit or debit cards will be subject to a fee charged by Simplex. The fee will be 5% of the user’s total transaction cost with a minimum of $10 per purchase order. However, KuCoin won’t charge any extra fees to process the transaction.

Although the new credit card option can be setup in only 5-30 minutes, KuCoin users may not yet purchase some of the newly launched and popular cryptos such as the BitTorrent token (BTT) and Grin.

Raising $20 Million For Ongoing Development

As CryptoGlobe reported in early December 2018, KuCoin began supporting XRP trading pairs. Although XRP is not being used as a base, or quote currency, KuCoin’s exchange offers the following trading pairs: XRP/BTC, XRP/USDT, XRP/ ETH, XRP/PAX XRP/ TUSD, XRP/USDC, XRP/KCS and XRP/NEO.

In mid-November 2018, KuCoin’s development team raised $20 million in a Series A funding round - which was led by IDG Capital, Neo Global Capital, and Matrix Partners. The funds raised will reportedly be used by KuCoin’s developers to launch the “KuCoin platform 2.0” - which will add new features to the exchange’s platform. These include upgrading the existing APIs, adding stop orders, and a new tool that will let users trade small amounts by using the exchange’s native token, KuCoin Shares (KCS).

KuCoin Has Over 5 Million User Registrations

Launched in September 2017, KuCoin has well over 5 million users that have registered on its platform. According to available data, KuCoin’s monthly trading volume is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, however it is not ranked consistently among the top digital asset exchanges.

Last year, prominent journalist Joseph Young had reported that KuCoin’s Hong Kong offices were empty. He had seemingly implied that the exchange could potentially engage in fraudulent activities, as Young had warned that he’d definitely not deposit any funds on KuCoin’s exchange. However, KuCoin’s management later clarified that its Hong Kong address is “merely” for mailing purposes.